Red Eye Destiny
by Adyen
Summary: Young Hyuuga Hinata doesn't know why her eyes turned blood red whenever she tries to activate her clan's bloodline ability but ever since that day, she's been getting weird feelings and thoughts that's making her life much more difficult!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I intend to mess around with a few characters, but as Hinata will tell you later, some things cannot be changed. Like the fact that I don't own any of the Naruto characters or anything related to the series.

* * *

Red Eyed Destiny

Prologue

By Adyen

* * *

Hiashi sat in front of his 8 year old daughter Hinata as she tried to activate the Hyuuga bloodline ability: the Byakugan. Her cousin Neji had first managed to successfully control the activation less than a year ago and while the 3 years old Hanabi was too young to have shown any signs of the Byakugan yet, the potential can easily be seen in the way she practices the Jyuuken.

The young girl sat crossed leg in deep concentration as she slowly went through the seals that all Hyuuga were taught from birth. Each seal required a certain amount of chakra to be carefully channelled into the eye and the surrounding areas in order for the Byakugan to be activated successfully the first time. After the chakra pathways were made, the user only has to push the chakra through them to activate the Byakugan.

With his own Byakugan on, Hiashi focused on what his heir was doing. 'Just a bit more...' He thought to himself as he watched Hinata impassively. As she finished the final seal, the chakra surged into her eyes and she reflexively closed them and bit her inner lips in pain as her bloodline ability changed her eyes. Hiashi was about to congratulate her on her success when a sudden surge of chakra appeared from /nowhere/ and flared up in her eyes.

Her eyes snapped open and she screamed in agony, feeling that her eyes were burning like liquid fire. Hiashi watched in shock as the chakra seemed to mix in her eyes but quickly reacted when he saw her arms head up towards her face, fingers hooked into claws. Moving with speed born from being a shinobi for 30 odd years, he quickly pinned his daughter and disabled her arms and legs with a few well-placed taps. He was about to call for a medic when one of his retainers burst in, along with a squad of the security detail.

"Hiashi-sama!" The leading man franticly yelled. "The Uchiha! They're all dead!" He then paused at the sight of their clan leader holding down his squirming daughter, mouth opened but with no sound coming out and seemingly unable to use her arms and legs.

Hiashi grimaced at the news, both in anger and fear of the situation. Anger at why it would happen NOW, of all times; and fear, for who could destroy an entire branch of Konoha's finest in one night. He glanced down at his daughter and couldn't help but gasp.

Hiashi could understand how she might be crying blood due to whatever damage the sudden surge of chakra did to her eyes; but instead of the white Byakugan he expected to see, all he could see were red orbs belonging to someone incredibly old, staring accusingly at him. He blinked and suddenly all that was left of the vision was the painful blood-cry of his daughter's crimson eyes.

Uncertain what to do, he placed a finger on his daughter's forehead and watched that as she lost consciousness, her eyes faded back to their normal white. He carefully picked her up. "Have a house medic examine her eyes." He commanded. "I'll head over to the Uchiha compound immediately."

The retainer nodded numbly as Hiashi passed Hinata to him and quickly headed towards the nearest in-house medic, as only another Hyuuga could understand the Byakugan. He was so deep in shock that he never heard the young Hyuuga in his arms mutter a single name... "Naruto..."


	2. Chapter 2

Red Eyed Destiny

Chapter 1: End of the Beginning

By Adyen

* * *

During the first twelve years as a Hyuuga, Hinata always thought that she got the short end of the stick. She was born as heir, when all she wanted was to live a normal life. She was always weaker than her cousin, and even her own younger sister shows more potential than she did, regardless of the almost 6 year gap between them.

She wasn't bitter about it or anything, but always thought how things could have been better if only things were different.

The only bright point was Naruto - the young, energetic blond that cheered her up the first time they met, and the young hero in making that she had fell in love with at a tender age of 10. She still remembers the day when she had left the Academy and sat at the swings, trying to hold back the tears. Her father had gave her the cold shoulders and she was reaching her breaking point, with nearly everyone doing so much better than she was.

A young Naruto had sneaked up on her and grinned in her face, telling her to cheer up. He then pushed her swing as she stared at the kid who wasn't afraid of her... 'Hyuuga-ness' and seemed to care about just how she was feeling. She could feel the world shift around her as he became the center of her universe, like watching a mystical glass ball that showed her watching him which spread into infinity.

She never did manage to tell him how she felt, not when they were older and more mature. Not when they had their lives in front of them, and missions to fulfil. Not even through any of Naruto's joys and pains, because it was such a small secret that she had been afraid it would become lost in the whirlwind that was Naruto.

So it really came as a shock to her when she opened her eyes and saw the Hyuuga medical room and felt something decisively OFF with her body. A moment of ackwardness caused her to pause when suddenly everything rushed back at once. The attempt to activate the Byakugan for the first time; the slow and grueling process of making 22 seals for the awakening; the overwhelming pain in her eyes and her head... Then it was Naruto, Naruto, Naruto... Maybe she should have some raman with him...

The 8 years old Hinata blinked as she wondered whether she was going insane because she failed to awaken her Byakugan or something. The fact that she's making an internal monologue about someone she didn't even know about spoke volumes about her mental health, and thus she never noticed when her father entered with the Hyuuga specalist.

"Hinata?" Hiashi asked as he and the doctor traded glances at the young heir's staring. "Are you alright?"

Hinata blinked as her eyes focused on her father. Strangely, she could see faint patterns of light flickering across his body, as well as the Hyuuga physician. "Otou-sama..." Hinata started to greet her father, but for some reason it felt wrong to her even though she had been calling him so since she could remember. "I... what happened?" She finally asked, not really sure of the answer herself.

The two older men traded another glance with each other.

"Hinata-sama?" The doctor preformed a short series of seals to activate the Byakugan and veins grew along his eyes and temples - the obvious signs of the Hyuuga bloodline. "Could you try to activate the Byakugan? We need to see if it was activated correctly last night."

For some reason, a feeling of deep resentment bubbled up from within her. She supressed it with a ruthlessness that she didn't know she had and timidly nodded. Copying the seals the doctor used, earning a surprised look from both the doctor and her father, she managed to whisper out the first word of their prized dojutsu before she almost cried out in pain. Suddenly, her world wasn't centered around where she was anymore, and everything seemed different - but not in her visions.

She KNEW things that she knew she didn't know. She could remember bits a pieces of feelings and thoughts that she knew haven't happened, but at the same time she felt they did, like a scar on her soul. Her vision seemed stacked as she saw her father under a new light, saw him surpress what has to be a recoil from her eyes, and how old he became, even though he was barely in his 40ies. His whole life seemed to stretch behind him and she made a mute cry of agony before losing her concentration - her Byakugan, or whatever it was, fading away with the rest of that... greater Her.

For his part, Hiashi nearly recoiled in shock as his daughter bit off a cry of pain and LOOKED at him with those bloody red eyes he saw last night. It felt as though she had plowed deep into his soul and found him wanting, and he didn't relish that feeling at all. He almost made a sigh of relief as her body sagged and she lost those red eyes of her's, becoming only a pair of fear filled white eyes of his daughter.

Hinata mutely covered her head with her blanket and curled up into a fetal position, whimping as her tears became absorbed by the fabric. Hiashi glanced at the doctor and tried to pat Hinata's head, but she flinched away at the first touch. He wasn't sure what the hell happened, but he promised himself that he sure as hell will find out.

* * *

The next few days passed as a blur to both Hinata and Hiashi. Hinata steadfastly refused to activate her dojutsu and, in one instance, pratically threatened a man that if he tries to force her again, he'll be thrown into the branch family faster than he could activate his Byakugan. She didn't know who was more surprised - the young doctor facing her who had always dealt with Hinata's soft personality, or herself for having the audacity for saying something like that.

Hiashi, on the other hand, had to deal with the fallout of the Uchiha Massacre, as the loss of the main branch of family that deal with internal security threatened the safety of Konoha. The Hokage met with every family head to deal with this problem, and those meetings took away any chance of him personally visiting Hinata.

After a fustrating week where nothing got done on either side of the problem, Hiashi finally gave in and approched the Sandaime for help.

"So, young Hinata's Byakugan isn't what it's supposed to be?" Sarutobi asked after listening to Hiashi's story. "I'm not sure what I can do to help... I'm not well vised in the Byakugan, or even a medic-nin."

"Sandaime-sama," Hiashi was never one for sucking up, but why not say a few extra words if it'll help his cause? "I know this is out of the ordinary, but I wouldn't have approched you if it isn't. Could you at least take a look, or maybe ask Tsunade-sama to help? I'm sure your student would be able to help somewhat."

Sarutobi sighed and inhaled from his pipe. "It's not that simple. When Tsunade left, it was on the condition that I wouldn't keep track of her. The only person who could find her would probably be Jiraiya, and that brat is never around when you need him."

Hiashi mused that the Sandaime is probably the only one to call Jiraiya a brat.

"But let me take a look at her for now. It's not like the council will be able to decide anything until later." Sarutobi said, but then paused. "Have you considered that the massacre of the Uchiha clan could have something to do with it?"

This time it was Hiashi's turn to pause. "No, not really. I know that our clan history says that the Uchiha once had something to do with our clan, but there's never been anything that hints the Uchiha could affect the Byakugan like this." In fact, nothing in recorded history has hinted something like this could happen... whatever it was that happened. This was probably the first time something like this happened and if Hiashi was honest with himself, it scared him like nothing in his past experiences.

He thought back to Hinata copying the doctor's battle-seals to activate her Byakugan. It shouldn't be possible for a second-time Byakugan user to activate their bloodline with the shortened seals he used. The control required would have taken years of study, and Hinata is only 8!

"Maybe it does have something to do with the Uchihas, but that's why I would like you to examine Hinata for me." He finally said, deciding to keep quiet about that incident for now. "Otherwise, we may never find out."

* * *

They found Hinata practicing in the private dojo behind the main building. She was in the middle of a palm strike when the doors sild open revealing Hiashi and the Sandaime. Hinata quickly stopped what she was doing and bowed to the two men.

"Ot..." She started, but then stopped, biting her lips. "Uh... Hyuuga-sama, Sandaime-sama? If you need to dojo, I can leave." Her voice was as soft as ever, but seemed thick with unsaid emotions.

For some reason Hiashi couldn't explain, hearing Hinata call him 'Hyuuga-sama' felt worse than watching his brother's body being sent to the Cloud. He privately resolved to do anything he could to prevent her from calling him that ever again.

Sarutobi takes the initiative and shakes his head. "Please stay, Hinata-chan. Your father is worried about you and asked me if I could figure out the mystery behind what happened to your eyes." He gives a reassuring smile as he moved closer to the young Hyuuga.

Hinata lowered her head in hopes of hiding the warring emotions that churned within her. She felt some unknown bitterness over something she had no idea about, a deep sadness that she couldn't identify, and genuine happiness that her father cared about her. After spending a week resting, she finally managed to gain a certain degree of control over the weird emotions that popped up for no reason whatsoever "Thank you, otou-san." She said, deciding to feel happy about being cared for.

Hiashi smiled lightly and said, "Hinata? Why don't you let the Hokage examine you and we'll figure out what happened, alight?"

Hinata hesitantly nodded before looking at the Sandaime expectantly.

* * *

"Well..." Sarutobi huffed. "Nothing's WRONG with her that I can find..."

Nearly an hour later they were still in the dojo, trying to figure out the mystery of Hinata's alternate eye color. The floor had been turned into a messy scrawl of symbols and seals that only Sarutobi knew what they all meant, and little Hinata was sitting in the middle of all of them, trying to look attentive to the old man.

"I guess the only thing left is for you to actually activate your Byakugan and take the test there." The old man said as he took a seat in one of the chairs Haishi ordered.

For most of the hour, Hinata had steadfastly refused to activate it as long as there was something else to try, and both men humored her. However, now that they've exhausted the other possibilities, they have no choice but to examine the source of the problem itself - and Hinata knew it as well.

After another minute arguing, which surprised Hiashi as Hinata normally yeilds to his wishes, Hinata slowly preformed the seals that would bring out her crimson Byakugan. Surutobi monitered her progress from both the seals he had placed around her, and peered curiously at the red orbs as they appeared.

For Hinata, this is the third time that she had summoned up her Byakugan - or is it Akaigan now? - and the pain of channelling chakra through newly created pathways has receded. However, what shocked her was when she looked at the aging Sarutobi, all she could feel was a deep sadness; and unlike her father, the images didn't seem to stretch on to infinty... it reaches just a bit 'further', before it hits a deep darkness that seem to sufficate her just by looking at it.

As tears rolled down her cheeks, she voluntarily turned off her newly named Akaigan for the first time, and hugged the rather clueless Hokage while in view of her bewildered father. She didn't know exactly what she was crying for, for that certainty left her with her Akaigan, but it was enough to know that it was for something she had lost forever.


	3. Chapter 3

Red Eyed Destiny 

Chapter 2: The Trick with Words

By Adyen

* * *

Hinata had never really been devious in her many years of life, and so she couldn't really justify the reason why she waited until she was 10 to really meet Naruto - especially since she could remember that longing she felt within her. That didn't mean she DIDN'T, though, and it was slowly eating her from inside.

As she sat on the swings in front of the Academy, she looked back at the two years since she first activated her Akaigan. Her relationship with her father was... strained, to say the least. He didn't completely ignore her, and in fact, tried to give her as much attention as he could. However, the fact that she couldn't or wouldn't use the Byakugan has a lot of the Main House people asking for renaming Hanabi as heir.

The fact that Hanabi was only 4 didn't seem to make a difference.

For her part, Hinata could understand her father's position and spent more time with her sister, hoping that she could help little Hanabi ease into the position of being Heir of the Clan. She's even talked to her father about a soft-banishment to one of the smaller buildings beside the main building, but he would have nothing of that sort.

Hinata frowned. Why couldn't her father understand that she wouldn't mind him setting her aside if it was for the good of the Clan? Sure, if he just suddenly came out and said, "Hinata, you're useless. Leave." she would be hurt and maybe even angry; but he isn't, and she could understand his position as Head of the Clan. She COULDN'T be the heir if she can't even activate their family bloodline ability. Even after two years of study, nobody has any idea WHY her eyes turned red.

It's true that she'd never be able to have the traditional 'Byakugan' because the chakra paths that could have been used to create it had been replaced with those activating her Akaigan. She's even experimented a few times, trying to start over from scratch - but that had only caused her Akaigan to activate.

Her frown deepened as she remembered one time Hanabi had managed to sneak up on her when she was experimenting, and ended up entering her sights. Unlike her father or anyone else, all she felt was a strong feeling of loving care and a bare echo of the infinate stretch of images behind her. Hanabi had then asked why her eyes were red, and she winced, remembering the lame excuse of explaining it when she was older.

"You really shouldn't frown so much." A voice that made her heart leap said.

She focused in front of her, and there he was. Uzumaki Naruto - Konoha #1 prankster, and the person who she would fall in love with.

"Cheer up! What can possiblely be wrong on a day like this?" He asked, grinning at her while she felt her face heat up. She never planned on them meeting like this (again?)! She was just thinking about her situation, how it wasn't as bad as she feared, yet he still came to her!

"Let me push your swing. If you want to, you can tell me what's wrong." Naruto said as he got behind her and gave her a light push to start the swinging motion.

For the first time in two years, Hinata felt like her old self. Here she was, deterimined not follow the footsteps of her daydreams, but she couldn't even say a single word! Her thoughts were confused and yet she could feel her world once again shifting like that hallucination of hers, revolving around this boy that she had just met yet known about for some time.

For the next minute or so, Hinata tried to say something, anything that could tell him how she felt. Naruto was talking about a prank he managed to get Shino to participate in because their target had stepped on one of his bugs when Hinata realized that if she didn't say something soon, he might just leave without anything being said by her.

A rush of panic raged through her mind at the thought. She didn't know why, but she KNEW this was the only chance she had... for what, she didn't know, but this was more important than anything else in the world. Even with that in mind, she found that she STILL couldn't speak, not even when her swing started to slow and Naruto came around to tell her he had to go. She opened her mouth, to say something, ANYTHING, but just looking at him made her mind soft like the worse obfuscation genjutsu their teachers taught them.

He grinned at her - a grin that seem to etch itself in her mind - and waved before turning to leave. 'It can't end like this!' Her mind screamed and her arms moved instinctively at a speed she never realized she could move.

"Wait!"

Naruto paused and turned back. Hinata stood behind him, face down and hands clutched together. "Yes?" He asked as she still couldn't look at him in the face.

"I... You... We..." Hinata stuttered, unable to believe she STILL can't tell him how she felt. There was so much to say and so many feelings yet to be sorted; but right now, she NEEDED him with her, even if she can't tell him her feelings directly...

"Huh?" Naruto asked, scratching his head.

Hinata shook her head and looked at Naruto directly. Her bright red eyes were a sharp contrast to her white skin, but Naruto only looked at it curiously - not understanding the feelings behind them. "Will you be my boyfriend?" She managed to force out, relieved that she had at least managed that much, but disappointed that she couldn't outright tell him how she felt.

Naruto lifted an eyebrow, an expression of slight disbelief on his face. "The others didn't put you up to this, did they?" He finally asked, not really sure he heard her right. Hinata shook her head furiously. "You sure? I know I don't look very smart, but I've heard stories about things like this..."

'He doesn't believe me!' Hinata despairingly thought. She wanted, no, NEEDED him to understand somehow - this thought overwhelmed any other emotion she might have had. 'It CAN'T end like this!!' She furiously thought, a thought that echoed somewhere in her mind as fear and agony set in. The fact that Naruto didn't believe her was so painful that it physically hurt.

Her small frame shook as tears glistened in her eyes. She tried to think of something to say, anything that would convince him of her feelings, but it was like being trapped in a box with nothing but darkness inside. She realized now that it was fear of this happening that prevented her from meeting him before now - that her world would reject her and leave her alone in the dark. It's also the reason why he doesn't believe her, because who would suddenly ask someone they've never met a question like that?

'I wouldn't believe it either.' Hinata bitterly thought as she slowly became lost in her dispair. She could see it now: that Haruno girl will give Naruto a small gift tomorrow in pity, and he'll fall in love with her for the rest of his life. She'll watch as Sakura rejects him for the traitor Sasuke, and timid little Hinata will watch from the sidelines, never being able to feel the love of the one who became her universe.

So immersed in her own self-pity, she didn't see Naruto panic in front of her as tears start running down her eyes. She definately didn't see him make a fool out of himself blubbering some nonsensical sounds, but she quickly focused back in the present when she felt arms wrap around her and found Naruto hugging her while franticly saying, "I'm sorry Hinata! I believe you! I believe you! Just stop crying already!"

Blinking, Hinata brought her left hand up to her cheeks and found them wet. She then realized where she was and blushed furiously, all her previous thoughts lost in her whirling emotions.

"I'll be the best boyfriend you'll ever have! So great that you'll never need another one!" He babbled on, not knowing that Hinata's tears had already stopped.

"Re... Really?" Hinata stuttered, not believing her ears. Naruto pulled back and looked at Hinata in the eyes.

"Really." He said. Hinata suspected that he didn't really know what he's saying, but it brought a smile to her face neverless.

"Thank you." She whispered as she leaned back into the hug and closed her eyes. She saviored the feeling, not noticing Naruto's panicky look as he finally realized what he agreed to. "I feel like I'm... going to faint." She murmured as she did exactly that - the excitement finally catching up to her and her Akaigan having drained all her chakra.

* * *

"This... has been a weird day." Naruto mused aloud as he walked aimlessly around Konoha. He had quickly ran inside with Hinata and called one of the teachers still at the Academy. The teacher had quickly asked what happened to the girl and Naruto told him how she fainted suddenly.

After a dirty look at him, the teacher quickly checked if anything was wrong with her. Not finding anything life threatening, he told Naruto that he would take her back to the Hyuuga compound and the kid was free to leave. Naruto, of course, told the teacher outright that there was no way he'd let Hinata out of his sight.

The teacher had sputtered indignantly but opted to ignore Naruto as he carried Hinata outside. Naruto followed along until they reached the Hyuuga compound and someone came out to carry her inside. Having done what he set out to do, he wondered around town, thinking of Hinata.

He had saw her when he was leaving detention - a young girl with with an air of depression around her. It wasn't the first time he noticed her, but it was the first time he's seen her so depressed. He knew she was one of the quiet ones, so he didn't really mind when she kept silent as he cheered her up. It wasn't until he was going to leave that she said anything, and he was slightly shocked at the red eyes - he could have sworn she had white eyes, but maybe he should figure out how to change his eyes red, just for shock value - but what really surprised him was Hinata asking him to be her boyfriend.

"Oh boy oh boy..." He muttered as he finally realized he knew nothing about being a boyfriend at all.

At first he couldn't believe it. It sounded like a prank, but when she started to cry... She just stared at him with those weird red eyes of hers and tears started gathering in them. She looked even worse than when he found her!

His legs brought him to a bookstore that he frequently passed and he decided to see if there was anything about relationships inside. Barely being taller than the counter, he sneaked in and made his way towards the back where all the girly books were. He carefully skimmed through through the titles and glanced through a few books before he felt a chill go down his back.

"NO READING IN THE STORE!!!!!" The owner yelled at him as he jumpped.

"Wait! Wait!" Naruto franticly said as he waved his hands. "I'm going to buy something! I just want to find a book about relationships!"

The owner paused for a moment. "Relationships, eh?" He slyly asked. For some reason, Naruto didn't like the look in his eyes.

"Uh... ya... I sort of... ummm... need to study up on it for a project! Ya..." Naruto stuttered out, not realizing how bad a lier he was.

The owner looked at him for another moment before grinning. "Well, if you're a paying customer, then why don't I help you?" He asked and dragged a young Naruto a few shelves across, where Naruto never been to because the books there were boring. "I know the perfect book that tells you how... Relationships should work."

The owner checked the books on the shelves and plucked one out for Naruto. "There it is. Now, you should read it carefully, cause it might be a bit hard to understand now, but if you do it exactly, then everything should be fine."

"'Girls and Boys'" Naruto read the title but frowned at the pink hearts around the corner of the front cover. There was a picture of a girl smiling in front of another person... if he didn't know better, he would say that it's another girl. "Are you sure?" He asked the owner skepticly.

The owner dragged the boy to the counter. "Of course I'm sure. Just to show you how sure I am, I'll give you a 50 discount on that book." He said with a wide grin.

Naruto dubiously paid the man and left, intent on at least giving the book a chance before deciding. The man he just paid rubbed his hands in devilish delight at the mischief he managed to do.

* * *

Hinata wasn't sure what happened after her confession to Naruto but when she woke up, it was back in her bed with one of the branch house attendents checking her vital signs.

During one of her morning classes, Hinata noticed Naruto glancing at her nervously every once in a while; for some unfathomable reason, she found that extremely amusing and was ashamed of feeling, especially considering how much that reminded her of herself.

During the lunch break, Naruto joined her for lunch, but quickly left after asking her out after they get out from the Academy. In an uncharacteristic display of decisiveness, she quickly said yes before anyone can interrupt the moment.

Time passed until Hinata finally found herself alone in front of the Academy. Naruto had escape from classes soon after lunch, and she had seen neither hide or hair of him since then. She was hopeful that he left early to get ready, instead of the many alternatives that's possible.

Luckily for her, she was proven right when Naruto skid to a stop in front of Hinata after dashing down the road.

"S...Sorry I'm late, Hinata...er...chan..." Naruto mumbled out in a surprisingly shy voice. He looked downwards and his hands clenched together like the beginnings of a seal, but then stopped. "Is your... ah... father going to worry if you don't go home immediately?"

Hinata shook her head silently, still in good cheers. A tinge of embarassement rose up, but was quickly quenched by the surge of triumph of remembering Sakura asking Hinata where Naruto was during the afternoon.

Naruto seemed to look away as he tenatively took Hinata's hand, causing the young girl to blush. "Uh... Let's go then. We can go around the village and see if there's anything interesting."

* * *

The next hour was spent roaming around Konoha with Naruto pointing out places where he's pranked. Hinata wasn't really listening, as she was having internal flip-flops of being on a date with Naruto.

It wasn't until the end of the hour when Hinata pointed out she was thirsty that something happened.

"I'll get you something to drink." Naruto offered and told Hinata to wait outside of a shop. He went inside after asking what she'd like, but it only took thirty seconds before he quickly ran back out, a cup filled with hot tea flying out after him.

"Naruto!" Hinata exclaimed as she quickly checked him for any burns. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"Eh heheh..." Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "I must have pranked this place as well..."

A burning anger seemed to roar through Hinata. "They try to burn you for a PRANK?!" She yelled, catching the attention of a few passer-bys. Her Akaigan activated almost by instinct and she could almost see a haze of blood fill her vision. "I'll show them something they should try to burn you FOR!"

Naruto seemed to panic at the look of an angry almost on-a-rampage Hinata "Wait, wait!" He dragged Hinata away from the shop dispite her protests and into an abandoned alleyway. "Look, it's alright! I pranked them for being an ass to me, so I already got them back!"

Hinata's anger cooled to a simmer in the back of her head but she frowned at him. "What do you mean?" For some reason, she can't seem to shake the feeling that she knows what he's talking about...

Shrugging, Naruto said, "I don't know why, but a lot of the adults don't like me so I prank them when they're not paying attention. I'm pretty good at it too! I'm already planning on my best prank EVER..." He grinned almost dementedly and rubbed his hands together, letting out a small chuckle.

Hinata pretended she didn't see that. "But..."

"Oh, I guess I might as well do it now..." Naruto said as he blushed.

The girl blinked. "Huh? Do what?"

Naruto embarrassedly said, "Just watch."

He went through two seals in a combination Hinata had never seen before and said, "Henge!"

A small puff of smoke exploded from Naruto, covering him from head to toe. When the smoke cleared, a small girl a bit taller than Naruto but still with the same clothing and hair color stood in front of Hinata.

"Ta da!" She said. "I was making a Henge to deal against the old man, but realized I can use this as a disguise as well. Isn't it cool?"

Hinata's brows were smashed together in a frown. "...Naruto?"

The girl nodded with a embarrassed grin.

"Wouldn't the henge fail if you were bumpped or something?" Hinata asked.

Naruto blinked. "Why should it?"

This time it was Hinata's turn to blink in astonishment, her red eyes fading back to her normal white. "Why..." She sputtered. "It doesn't?" She thought back to the seals... "Wait, the Henge no Jutsu only has one seal!" She suddenly exclaimed.

Naruto scratched her head. "Oh, really? Err... I mean, I made this variation up so that it'll last longer!" She exclaimed, suddenly very nervous. Hinata narrowed her red eyes at Naruto but didn't press any futher, vowing to find out what's wrong on her own.

Smiling his cocky grin, Naruto said, "Come on! They shouldn't recogonize me anymore, so let's try this again."

* * *

They spent the next hour or so window shoppping with the hyperactive Naruto. For some reason, Hinata felt annoyed at how the boy turned girl was acting as she kept trying out all the 'feminine' stuff that was way out of character.

When it started getting dark, a wary Naruto lead an annoyed Hinata up to the Hokage monument following a tourist route to a small area that gave a perfect view of the village from above.

"Uh... Hinata..." Naruto started, not sure what to say. "I'm sorry if today isn't what you expected or something... But I really don't have any idea how this boyfriend-girlfriend thing works..."

Hinata shook her head to say that it's alright, but Naruto plowed straight ahead.

"I mean, I've been living by myself for a while now, and I'm not really sure if I'm doing the right thing or not..." Naruto took Hinata's hand in her own, causing her to bow her head and blush. "...so I bought this book on relationships, so maybe you can tell me what I'm supposed to do."

A book-like thing fell into the hand Naruto was holding and Hinata looked up from staring at the ground, a bit miffled and still annoyed.

When she saw the book, however, she blinked in shock. She quickly opened it and skimmed through the material, asking, "Who... where did you GET this?" She asked with a hint of frost in her breath.

Naruto didn't seem to notice. "Well, the Books Two store off..." She started to answered, but Hinata cut her off.

"Oh, I know that store." She said in her cold tone. "Please forget everything you read in this... THING, and we'll try again tomorrow, alright?"

Naruto glanced into Hinata's red eyes and wondered why they keep switching between red and white. But when she felt a wave of... something seemingly threatening to crush him in fear, Naruto quickly nodded and left, hoping that tomorrow would be better.

* * *

The next morning, classes went pretty smoothly with one exception - Naruto was still looking female and had to prove who she was a few times before the teachers accepted that she was really Naruto.

When asked why she was like that, Naruto muttered something about an experiment and not quite knowing the seals, but since none of the teachers were willing to help fix him up anyways, nobody really cared.

During one of the morning classes, a loud explosion could be heard all the way from the Academy. The students were quickly taken to a shelter underneath a secret cellar, but they were quickly brought back out once it was determined that it wasn't an attack on Konoha.

The students later found out about what happened: It seems that a bookstore had just started opening up when the owner noticed something sitting outside the store's exit. He glanced around, and not seeing anyone, went outside to examine it.

Picking it up, he realized it was a wallet - one that apparently had something in it as well. Smiling to himself, he opened it to find a sheet of paper. There was just one word on it: Boom.

And BOOM went the store. The owner was flung nearly all the way across the street from the explosion and all his books were burnt into ashes in the first minute or so. (There's a rumor that said one of the first ANBU to arrive saw what happened to the store and fell to his knees in shock, his silver hair fluttering from the heat of the burning store while he started to cry.)

The owner swore that it had to be Naruto who did it, but the teachers reluctently admitted that he had been held during the middle of a class to explain why she looked female, and all the students are also witnesses that she was there.

In the end, the explosion became one of the unsolved mysteries of Konoha.


	4. Chapter 4

Red Eyed Destiny 

Chapter 3: Determination vs Reality

By Adyen

* * *

Hinata had changed a lot in the three years of the Academy. She had decided to grow her hair long, all the way down her back, and a small bell adorned the tips of her hair. It had appeared after a year and a half, when her hair reached below the back of her head, and she wouldn't tell anyone where she got it.

Many people told her that it wasn't practical for a ninja to wear something that made noises but for some reason, a majority of them never did figure out how she sneaked up on them without their knowing.

Naruto himself haven't changed much. Even with Hinata practicing with him, he only grew slightly in terms of height. Of course, that was only when Hinata wasn't punishing him for doing something stupid: like the time he painted each of the faces on the Hokage Mountain a different color - one of them was painted to look like a Hyuuga.

Near Hinata's 11th birthday, the pair made a rather amusing discovery (at least, in Hinata's point of view).

* * *

"So... you can't turn back." Hinata curiously asked as she looked at a slightly panicly Naruto (girl).

"No, I can't! I tried to dispel the jutsu, but nothing happens!" Naruto said, half annoyed and half scared. "I mean, I'm a guy, right? There wasn't some weird jutsu that turned me into a guy even though I was born a girl, right?"

Hinata fell backwards while laughing. They were sitting in a small clearing in a private training area the Hyuuga used, while Naruto was trying to explain to Hinata how he couldn't turn back, and that she had started bleeding for some reason.

"Hinata-chan! It's not funny!" Naruto whined, which only set Hinata off more. The rest of the day was spent between Naruto trying to figure out what's wrong and Hinata wondering if she should get someone to check if something's wrong with Naruto - even if the boy turned girl firmly said that she'd rather die before going to the doctors.

After a few days, Naruto was able to turn back to his own self. In the months ahead, they found that the jutsu somehow keeps track of how many days they spend in those different bodies, and Naruto would spend a few random days stuck as a girl and barely able to use any jutsu. Hinata just laughed and said that it was exciting since unless they keep track, they'll never know when Naruto's problem would come up - though he should stop using that jutsu after they graduate.

"Come on... it'll be exciting!" Hinata said, trying to convince Naruto to continue using the jutsu for now. "And, it'll make 'them' harder to connect you and your female self."

The emphasis on 'them' was not lost on Naruto. A week or so into their relationship, most (minus a very few who had no comments) of the Hyuuga elders did not want Hinata anywhere near Naruto. After seeing his jutsu, she had convinced him to pretend to be a girl so they could stay together in public. It was only after having another Hyuuga commenting on Naruto as Hinata's friend of the same sex and age that she realized Naruto's jutsu had somehow fooled even her clan's legendary eyes.

The fact that Naruto was having a period only confirms her own theory behind the jutsu.

"But..." Of course, this is still a boy having a period. "I mean, I don't want to randomly have this... thing..."

Hinata rolled her eyes and tried to remind herself that this was Naruto. "And you think I do?"

"Ah..." At least Naruto knew when to shut up now.

* * *

Rumors popped up about the Hyuuga heiress having a girlfriend after someone swore that they saw her kissing another girl, but was shot down by Hiashi Hyuuga. However, that was only after he had a rather long talk with his daughter - a talk which she somehow walked out of mid-way, leaving her father unable to decide whether to swear or be extremely proud.

Most of the ninjas at the Academy had gotten used to seeing a female Naruto dragging her feet into class and Hinata ignoring her for the rest of the day. Between the students and teachers, though, they wonder if Hinata didn't really swing 'that' way as well, and was just using Naruto to have the best of two worlds.

Of course, nobody was STUPID enough to say anything like that: not after the last teacher who said it had his home blown up due to a freak power-outage that somehow caused his water-pipes to explode and trip all the ninja traps that he just so happened to have kept near the pipe.

At least, that's how the story goes.

* * *

By Hinata's 11th birthday, she had managed to pursuade her father to 'suspend' her title of Heir and pass it to Hanabi - Hinata will be placed as a 'backup' heir, due to the fact that she can't activate a Byakugan. 

Some of the main branch members were not thrilled about that, but since it was not time to actually decide anything about the heir(s) anyways, they allowed it for now.

Hinata spent much of her time at home with Hanabi, teaching her the things expected of her as Heir and the arts of a shinobi. Hiashi trained Hanabi in the Gentle Fist, as well as the uses of the Byakugan as there was no repeat of what happened to Hinata. What happens in the dojo during that time has been kept secret even to other members of the Hyuuga household, but household rumors range from Hinata was being tortured during those 'training sessions' to Hinata doing the 'whip and leather' - teaching Hanabi the finer points of lesbianism while Hiashi drools in a corner.

No-one was suicidal enough to even THINK of it near the three of them.

It was a month after Naruto's birthday that the Academy exams were taken. Unfortunately for Naruto, the day before he had pulled a prank on a Hyuuga who had spoke of said rumor - and unable to explain WHY he had pulled one on someone part of her household - Hinata had forced him to 'be girl' for a week.

"Umm... Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked with a flush on her face. "Can't I take this again tomorrow or something?"

Iruka frowned. Sure he's USED to seeing Naruto as a female, but it was still weird to see the boy in front of him as a girl. It makes him think of things he'd rather not think of even if he's pretty sure it was just a henge.

Shaking his head, he answered, "Sorry Naruto, but are you going to ask a ninja to hold off their attack until some time that's convient for you? You're just going to have to do this today like everyone else is."

Naruto growled but held her word in. The blush on her face turned redder as the exam started.

* * *

"Alright, I need you to preform a bunshin for me." Iruka said to Naruto, who seem to fidget every once in a while.

Everyone else had finished their exams except for her, and both Iruka and Mizuki were mystified as to why Naruto was doing so badly. Normally, Naruto did badly on the theoreticals but made up on the practicals. Today, she was doing badly on both, and if she didn't shape up on this last test...

Hinata was watching from the side and was muttering something about "only him" and "what impossible timing", while many of the female students were also squriming uncomfortablely while glancing at Naruto. Seeing her during the practicals reminded them of something rather uncomfortable, but they all denied that it was possible.

Naruto took a deep breath and placed her hands together. "Bunshin!" She yelled, and a puff of smoke bellowed from beneath her. Moments later, two very much naked female Naruto-figures with what looks to be badly drawn faces were writhering on the floor, their arms and legs in wrong angles and unable to support the heavy bodies.

Iruka pinched his nose quickly and yelled, "NARUTO! FAIL!!!!!"

The two bunshins puffed away as Naruto dispelled them. "But sensei!!!!"

"You can do better than that!" Iruka yelled. "If you don't want to be a ninja, just say so!"

"Wait a moment, Iruka." Mizuki tried to pacify the rather annoyed teacher. "I'm sure Naruto has his... I mean, her reasons. Why don't you give her the chance?" He looked at Naruto questioningly, as if giving her the chance to explain.

"I... Uh... I..." Naruto stuttered as she looked at the teachers and students. She blushed full red and screamed out, "ARG!!!" before running out of the classroom, past a Hinata who was shaking her head and looked as though she wanted to follow him out.

"Hinata, wait." Iruka ordered. Hinata stopped and turned to the teacher. "Do you know what's bothering Naruto?"

Hinata glanced between the exit and Iruka before blushing hard. "Uh... I'll go check on Naruto. Please have my Head Protector sent to my home." She quickly dashed out, ignoring Iruka's protest and the other student's curious look.

"Well, that went well." Mizuki sarcasticly muttered...

* * *

Hinata had spent the majority of the afternoon searching for Naruto without much luck. By the time the Academy students had all left, she had searched most of the places Naruto could be, and was poking through the forest for their training spot.

Hinata found Naruto sitting crossed-legged and concentrating on a large scroll. The boy turned girl was frowning and had her fingers in a cross shape and muttering something indistinctively.

"Naruto?" Hinata asked as Naruto jumpped from her girlfriend's voice. "Where have you been? And what's that?"

"Oh, heh... Come take a look." Naruto said as she waved Hinata towards her. "Some of these jutsus are really impressive..."

Curious, Hinata approched the girl and glanced down at the scroll. At first glance, she couldn't figure heads or tails about it; after asking a few questions, she started seeing how the first jutsu, 'Kage Bunshin' worked.

"This is... pretty advanced. Looks like an advanced scroll for the 'kage' type jutsu we learned earlier this year." Hinata admited as she sat cross-legged besides Naruto. She opened the scroll further down to take a look at all the other jutsus there. "Who gave it to you?"

The small pause of silence was enough for Hinata to know something was wrong. "Na-Ru-To?" She asked with a squeeky cute voice. "Where did you get this?"

"Errr..." Somehow, the sitting Naruto managed to inch away from her girlfriend. "I borrowed it?" She tried to answer without making it seem like it's a bad thing. She failed.

"WHERE did you borrow this?" Hinata sweetly asked, pretty sure that she won't like the answer.

Naruto rubbed the back of her head. "Eh heh heh..." She tried to stall for some time. Hinata's glare told her that she's not going to get it. "Well... You know how I failed the test?"

Hinata nodded for her to continue. "Ah... Mizuki-sensei found me afterwards and we had a talk. After I... er... 'explained' why I failed, he said that if I can... um... 'borrow' this scroll without anyone figuring out it was me, then he'll treat this as a pratical test and pass me."

Narrowing her eyes, Hinata nodded with a 'ya right' kind of look. "And?"

"Uh... IhadtotakeitfromtheHokage'sroomwithoutanyonenoticing." Naruto blurted out, hoping to buy some time to figure out what to do.

Too bad Hinata is rather experienced in figuring out Naruto's single-word blurbs.

"You WHAT?!" Hinata screeched. "How COULD you! You could get expelled from the village for that!"

Naruto winced. "I'm sure Mizuki-sensei had his reasons..." She tried to pacified her angry girlfriend.

Hinata lifted an eyebrow and glanced down at the scroll, wondering why she's always so expressive whenever she's around Naruto. "Naruto... This is a very advanced ninja scroll. If it was a test, then it would probably be a fake scroll, which means that Mizuki used you to steal it!"

"Correct, and I do have to thank you for that."

Both Naruto and Hinata turned to the source of the voice. Mizuki stood on top of a tree-branch with a giant throwing star strapped onto his back. Hinata immediately snapped the scroll up and roll it with a simple movement that all students were taught in case they had to steal documents that were open.

"Now, please hand over the scroll and MAYBE I won't hurt you." He said with a small smile as Naruto and Hinata backed up a bit.

Hinata brushed her hair back with one hand and passed the scroll to Naruto with the other, her bells making a sweet twinkling noise as they jiggled along. She glared at the man who dared to use her boyfriend to do his dirty deed. "You could do it anyways if we handed it over." She said.

Naruto took a step forwards and nodded. "Ya! We're ninjas of Konoha, and your ass needs to be kicked for tricking me like that!"

Mizuki tsked and shook his head. "If only you didn't find him..." He muttered. "Ah well. We can't have any witnesses, now can we?" He drew his large throwing star and made a single seal. He threw the weapon and yelled out the strongest Jutsu, and the one that would take care of the brats quickest, that he knew, "Let me show you something that they don't teach you in the academy! Shuriken kage bunshin no jutsu!"

As Mizuki was drawing his large throwing star, Hinata narrowed her eyes and phased through the seals required to activate her Akaigan. Just before he threw the weapon, her eyes turned red and a small chime came from her bells that passed un-noticed by Mizuki. However, the teacher stared in shock as his jutsu seemingly failed as no extra throwing stars popped into existance, and both Hinata and Naruto easily dodged the single projectial.

Naruto threw his own kunai in mid-air which Mizuki easily dodged, while Hinata tried to get closer with him. However, Mizuki quickly got over his shock and tried to circle around her instead, trying to get to the scroll before Naruto runs away with it.

"Naruto! Don't let him get the scroll!" Hinata yelled as she moved to intercept, only to find that it was a bunshin when she surprisingly landed a hit on him. The cloud of smoke obsured her vision for a moment, and she mentally cursed that she didn't have her family's Baykugan that would easily pierce through the smoke. She jumpped to the side as a trio of shurikens ripped through the place where she was just seconds ago, and found that Mizuki had taken advantage of her dodge to pass her.

She glanced towards Naruto and, to her dismay, noticed that Naruto had not ran with the scroll, but was trying to attack Mizuki head on. "Naruto!" She cried as she tried to catch up with Mizuki and maybe catch him in a pincer, but dodging the shurikens had gave Mizuki just enough distance to reach Naruto first.

With one of Naruto's hand being occupied with holding the scroll, the teacher quickly managed to knocked Naruto back into a tree with his attack, trying to snag the scroll in the process. Luckily, the blond somehow managed to hold onto the scroll even as she went flying, giving Hinata a few seconds to try to reach Mizuki; She could tell that he plans to just grab the scroll and run, as ANBU will become involved as soon as the scroll is found missing.

Just as she thought, Mizuki quickly attempted to follow up his attack by dashing towards Naruto. Naruto winced slightly from the crash landing and got into a defensive position, but a sudden line of kunais forced Mizuki to dodge right and abort his attack.

"Naruto!" Iruka yelled as he jumpped down from another tree. He quickly launched another spread of kunais at Mizuki, who easily dodged it again and grabbed his oversized throwing star while he was at it.

"Shuriken kage bunshin no jutsu!"

This time the jutsu worked and a half a dozen of the large throwing stars appeared, flying towards landing chuunin. Iruka quickly dodged to the side while protecting his vital points, but the ninja stars were just too large to dodge, and two of them managed to hit him on the arm and leg. Unfortunately, they were ones that were summoned, so they faded away after dealing damage and leaving holes that had blood flowing out.

"Iruka-sensei!" Both Naruto and Hinata exclaimed as they took up positions in front of the wounded teacher.

"Looks like the game's come to an end." Mizuki sneered as he looked at the two academy students trying to protect their teacher.

"Naruto, Hinata, go find an ANBU or the Hokage!" Iruka grunted out as he stood wobbiliy on his wounded leg. "You can't let Mizuki take the Scroll!"

Mizuki laughed as he said, "Oh stop with the heroics. You know you hate the brat as much as everyone else does."

"What?" Naruto exclaims, eyes wide. Hinata merely frowned, but a ninja can see that she's grinding her teeth in anger.

"Don't believe him, Naruto. He's just trying to get the scroll from you!" Iruka reminded her.

Mizuki laughs again. "Oh really? Maybe he'll see 'the truth' after I tell him who he really is."

Iruka's eyes widened in shock. "You wouldn't dare!"

Mizuki snorted. "HA. Naruto, a rule was created after your birth 12 years ago. It is a rule that only you cannot find out about."

"A rule that's only for me?" Naruto, forgetting momentarily about their current situation due to her wonder. Hinata, on the other hand, seemed to get a headache as she was not quite sure what she's feeling.

"Mizuki! Stop!" Iruka yelled, trying to stop him from continuing. He pressed his wounds and tried to quickly stop the bleeding.

"What can you do to stop me?!" Mizuki laughed as he continued. "You see, the rule is to not tell you that you're the the Kyuubi! That is the reason why no matter what you look like, we still hate you! You're the one who killed Iruka's parents and destroyed our village, so it doesn't matter what you look like, you're still the demon that destroyed our lives all those years ago!"

Naruto's face paled to the point where it seemed like there was no blood going to it. "No... it can't be..."

"Yes! And I'll kill you now for all those lives you destroyed back then!" Mizuki hissed as he brought his hands up, each hand holding four smaller shurikens, and yelled, "Shuriken kage bunshin no jutsu!"

The sudden attack of shurikens caught everyone off-guard... That is, everyone except Hinata. Before Iruka could move to protect the two students, Hinata had jumpped forwards in front of the line of attack.

"Kaiten!"

Hinata had been trying to use the Hyuuga ultimate defense for the last six months, and had been told repeatedly that since she did not have the Byakugan, she would not be able to see her opponent or resist becoming dizzy afterwards. She had still attempted it, but haven't had much success with those attempts.

Even if the technique was not a perfected form, most of the shurikens popped out of existance upon touching the white-ish blue dome created by Hinata's chakra. Unfortunately, more than a few pierced through the incomplete technique.

When the sphere finally ended, Hinata was kneeling on the much smoother ground, cuts all over her body and had a long scar that ran across her bare forehead that was bleeding heavily.

"I..." Hinata tried to hold her focus from all that spinning and swallowed. She was starting to get light headed, and knew it was from losing all the blood that was splattered all across from her Kaiten. She turned to look at Naruto and idlely noticed that some of her blood had managed to hit him on the face. "I don't care what Naruto looks like... no matter who he is... what he does..." Her world started spinning more, and she knew it wasn't because of the dizzyness from using the Kaiten. "All I know, is that I love him, and nothing will change that. Not now, not 16 years later."

She tried to stand, but felt her sense of balance become lost in the many trickles of blood dripping out of her body. As her eyes lost the red color, she noticed Naruto looking at her and then at the hand that she had used to wiped off the liquid that had smack her in her face. Hinata's last throught as she lost consciousness was that a female Naruto looked cute with his eyes all wide and panicky.


End file.
